Amy Herman — Image Maker: On Life and Meaning

Charlotte Mecklenburg Library

7 years ago

Amy Herman is a visual artist, entrepreneur and community builder. Her photography is in the permanent collections of several museums, including the Kresge Art Center in East Lansing and The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, and has been shown in numerous galleries, including at The Light Factory and at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte. Amy is the co-director of Goodyear Arts, an artist in residency and event space initiative, and owner of Vintage Charlotte, a pop-up market of vintage and hand-made vendors. She is a recipient of the Charlotte magazine 2015 Charlottean of the Year Award. Amy earned a BFA in Fine Arts from Michigan State University and an MFA in Photography from Columbia College, Chicago.

This episode is perfect for anyone interested in photography, identity and memory, and creating the community that you want to live in.

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IN THIS EPISODE

Amy explains what makes an artist an artist and what makes her an artist.
She answers how she sees her role in the community and whether her work in the community is art.
She describes her recent photography exhibit at Central Piedmont Community College.
Amy shares what identity, masking and memory have to do with what she photographs.
She talks about what she hopes viewers feel looking at her work and whether an audience informs the work she creates.
She states whether she produces art to be sold.
She discusses a photography series of hers called ‘Relative Intimacy’ and the staging of intimate moments.
She addresses whether what a photograph captures is ‘real.’
Amy talks about Goodyear Arts, the exhibit space and artist in residency program she co-launched, and the four words that inspired it.
She shares what she learned through each iteration of Goodyear Arts.
She explains the criteria Goodyear Arts uses to select resident artists.
Amy discusses Vintage Charlotte, a business she launched, and whether it is an extension of themes she explores in her photography.
She answers whether administrative work is coming at the cost of her art.
Amy reveals what she wants.
She discusses the connection between her and Charlotte magazine.
She talks about growing up in the suburbs of Detroit, how her parents supported and influenced her, what was important to her growing up, and whether she is today who she expected to be.
Amy answers what photographer she admires and whether she wants to produce a photography book of her own.
She reveals what’s next for her and the role magic is playing.
Amy shares the life she wants to look back on.

Mark Peres adds a personal word that begins this way, “Before my conversation with Amy I looked at the photographs she created that had been exhibited at the Ross Gallery at Central Piedmont Community College and was now available for view on her personal artist website. I was immediately drawn in…”